Today, students are rereading My Name is Yoon. Rereading offers my students an opportunity to read deeper and improve their comprehension as they identify the key details of the literary text. My students need much practice with this skill.

I group my students in collaborative/cooperative groups for different reasons. In doing so, I give my students the opportunity to interact with their classmates in a variety of settings and allow them to learn from one another. Today, I pair up my students according to their reading fluency to participate in a pair reading and then have a discussion about what they are reading. For today, the fastest readers are reading together. I will work with a group of six who are my slowest readers so that I can offer them support with their comprehension and modeling fluency. As students engage in their task, I made sure I had a clear view of all students, which allowed me to be able to correct any misbehavior immediately. It is still early in the year, and my expectations for focused hard work need to stay firm.

Lesson Opening:

I start with my students on the rug and frame the lesson to them by sharing the objective. Then, I explain how they will use the sheet titled Questions for Pair Reading. These questions address the key details. Before they go on and work independently, I model for them the process with the book, No David by David Shannon. I chose this title because they love it, it's a short story, and we can we have a quick discussion about the key details. It is a lower level text, but, for English Language Learners to acquire rich academic language, they need an environment that minimizes anxiety about learning and participating, and a familiar text helps to lower their affective filter, allowing them to learn.

This is how I model after I read the story: I ask the question, "What is the problem?" After identifying the problem, I ask, "What is the solution? What can David do to solve the problem?”

I explain that, in finding the problem and the solution, we need to be like detectives because the author doesn’t come out and say it directly sometimes.

I explain that today they will be reading with a partner, while six of them will sit with me on the rug. (To measure reading fluency levels, we use the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills - DIBELS. Running Records can also be used to determine reading levels.)

Next, I model with a student how I expect them to sit either next to each other or face each other as they read. I also model how they need to ask each other the questions. Only then, do I dismiss my students. I choose to take the time to model the behaviors so they are clear on what I expect from them. As students find a place around the room to sit and read, I give them immediate praise/feedback on what I modeled/demonstrated.

Resources (2)

Resources

I seek to create independent readers who read with a purpose. My students benefit from working in groups because they can build confidence to work independently.

My students work around the room to accomplish the task. They take turns reading a page to each other. Once the reading is done, they ask each other the questions and answer them together.

This text warrants different reads because it is a rich story, and, in having read it again but with a different audience, I help them understand the text deeper. Revisiting these key details deepens comprehension, while rereading also bolsters fluency.

I am work with a group of students on the rug. I use a cloze reading to read with them. (A cloze reading is where I leave out a word from the sentences they read it chorally.) As I read with my group, I look for the rest of the class to be to on task. While I won’t be able to know whether those students working in pairs identify the problem and solution, which can be problematic for some of them, I am giving them the opportunity to learn from each other. And, I will bring my students back to the rug to share as a whole group to make sure these dry details are identified.

With my small group of six, I look for them to track their reading with their index finger. I listen for them to answer the questions in complete sentences. I looking for them to identify the title, the characters, the setting, the problem and its resolution to the best of their capacity and with my support.

Resources (2)

Resources

Now that students have had an opportunity to work in pairs, I bring them back to the rug as a whole group. I choose to convene as a whole group to demonstrate the collective knowledge of the classroom. In calling them back as a whole group to share what they are learning, it helps them my students be accountable with the tasks I assign them. Keeping track of who shares in a whole group gives me the opportunity to do an informal assessment of who feels comfortable sharing their thinking at this point. As the year progresses, I like to see more and more students share, not the just the same students who happen to be outspoken.

I have a few students share their findings/their discoveries.

Then, I review the graphic organizer they will using to further record the key details of the story. I let them know what while I want each to fill their own graphic organizer, they can work together to do so. I remind them that in filling out the graphic organizer, they need to look back into the story. For example, if they want to write the name of the main character, Yoon, they can look at the title page. I expect them to use proper spelling in cases like this.

My goal is to give them an opportunity to record their understanding of the key details of the narrative in a different way. This will help find the main idea in the following lesson and recount the narrative for the final lesson. This lesson builds towards the next lessons.

Resources (1)

Resources

As most of my students work independently to identify the key details, I work with my group near the easel so I can give them support with finding the information in the book and with forming complete sentences. They use clipboards for support. Again, my students may choose to work together as they answer key details of the story.

For my group it is necessary to come up with a collective response. They need this type of support at this time of the year.